Apps are Loosing, The Mobile Browser is Winning

May 10, 2016

In the last few weeks, comScore released its Mobile App Report, and it contained many new findings that changed our way of thinking towards some issues. the main thing to stress on is that consumers spend the majority of their mobile time with a very few heavily used apps.

Characterizing the browser as the ultimate mobile app, the firm cites its own research and comScore data for the proposition that “US mobile browser audiences are 2X larger than app audiences across the top 50 mobile web properties and have grown 1.2X faster over the past 3 years.”

Some researchers noted that the mobile Web is anemic or in decline (and by extension, Google) but in fact It’s not. As the data show, mobile browser usage is growing faster than apps and delivering larger audiences for most publishers. For some time, we’ve been tackling the importance of the mobile web and the interesting reach (browser) vs. engagement (apps).

Morgan Stanley showed that only 12 of the top 50 mobile properties have more traffic coming from apps than the browser.

As a practical matter, Morgan Stanley is absolutely correct. Most publishers will see the bulk of their traffic from mobile browser usage and not apps. The reason isn’t because the browser is somehow superior or that the “open internet must win.” The browser drives more traffic because consumers are highly selective about apps.